Cabinet door construction



Sept. 1, 1959 Filed June 4, 1956 M. E. ULLMAN, JR

CABINET DOOR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. WW zyxm fi Wax ATTORNEY Sept. 1, 1959 M. E. ULLMAN, JR 2,901,782

CABINET DOOR CONSTRUCTION 7 Filed June 4, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

A 7' TOHWE Y United Sttes Patent CABINET DOOR CONSTRUCTION Myron E. Ullman, Jr. Canfield, Ohio, assignor to Ameri- 'can Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Application June 4, 1956, Serial No. 589,050

4 Claims. (Cl. 20-16) This invention relates to sheet metal cabinets and more particularly to an improved sheet metal cabinet door construction.

Sheet metal cabinets having one or more hinged door members are generally fabricated in a number of differ ent manners, but, certain techniques or practices have become widely accepted. Generally, the door is comprised of an outer door panel and an inner door panel cooperably engaged therewith; provision is made in either or both of the door panels to receive hinge and handle fasteners, strikes, and like hardware. To produce a rigid structure the inner and outer panels are usually spot or projection welded together in proper relationship and often a sound-deadening member, such as a piece of corrugated paper-board, felt, or fibrous material, is compressed between the panels prior to final assembly of the door member. Finishing or painting occurs subsequent to the door members assembly and is limited to exterior surfaces only because those surfaces located interior of the structure have been made inaccessible by welding.

The hinging arrangement used to secure the doors to the cabinet generally takes the form of a multiplicity of hinges, each hinge having a door leaf and a cabinet leaf pivotally interconnected by a rivet or other fastener means. When assembling the door to the cabinet with this arrangement, the hinge cabinet leaf is first fastened to the basic cabinet structure by means of screws or the like and the door is then secured to the hinge door leaf in a like manner. Because of the number of separate fastening devices required, this method of installation introduces a labor cost which may unjustifiably be excessive.

Further, the typical cabinet and door construction above described possesses other limitations. During preparation of exterior surfaces for finishing by painting and the like it is common practice to process such door -members through spray-type cleaning equipment and used but also contributes to the initiating of rusting and corrosion of unprotected interior metal surfaces.

Likewise, the above described typical door construction is deficient in that the inner panel and outer panel are not readily separable should replacement of one or the other be desired and removal of the door from the hinge is unduly complicated in that several fasteners must be removed. Often depending upon the installation, access to such fasteners may be limited.

In some cabinet door constructions brackets are secured to the inner door panel to provide hinge-pin receiving means and most often the hinge-pin receiving means takes the form of a hole punched in a horizontal surface of the bracket. Production metal-working techniques dictate that the edge of the hole be located an appreciable distance from the edge of the bracket horizontal surface.

,fi I memb slz a Although a l ype cab ne ar 1C6 This limitation becomes critical in the construction of that type of cabinet having full-front doors where the hinge pivot point must be located as close as possible to the very outer corner of the cabinet door.

The object of my invention is to avoid such well-known limitations of cabinet door construction and in doing so I have provided a cabinet door construction that permits ready and easy assembly of the door component parts with a minimum of human effort.

The construction of my invention facilitates the complete finishing of all surfaces of the inner and outer door panels prior to their assembly to thus eliminate a potential rust hazard. Inasmuch as the door panels of my construction may be assembled without welding, soldering, or the like there is no danger of destroying the finish previously provided on the door panel member surfaces.

Further, an object of my invention is to provide a new rigid cabinet door construction that eliminates the requirement of subjecting contained sound-deadening members to processing moisture thus eliminating the necessity of moisture-proofing such members to prevent non-uniform finishing results.

Additionally, my invention permits subsequent separation of the door panel members without undue difiiculty should replacement of a panel be desired. Not only are the components of my construction readily assembled or separated but an assembled cabinet door may be quickly removed from the cabinet itself with little effort required.

To accomplish these objects I have devised a door construction comprised of cooperating inner and outer door panels which may be coated or finished on both sides prior to assembly. The panels, and any sound-deadening medium provided, are assembled and partially secured to each other by integral means, and completionof the door assembly is by the simple insertion of removable, retractable hinge-pin members which cooperate with both the inner and outer panel members. Those portions of the inner and outer panels cooperating with the hingepin members are formed integral with the panel members and thus the necessity of providing of extra components of fasteners is eliminated.

As to the problem of location of the hinge pivot point, my construction permits the placing of the periphery of" the hinge-pin within one sheetmeta1 thickness of the inner' surfaces of the outer door panel. This feature is highly desirable in the construction of sheet-metal cabinets: having full-front doors.

Details of my improved cabinet door construction are more fully explained in this specification and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a wall type cabinet utilizing my new cabinet door construction;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of my improved cabinet door taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the portion of the cabinet and door hinging arrangement located at the front upper left corner of the cabinet of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the cabinet hinging arrangement taken along the line 4'-4 of Fig. 1 showing, in addition, a partially broken view of a portion of an installed door of my construction;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the hinge-pin assembly shown in Figs. 3 and 4;

Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of an edge portion of a cabinet door showing a further arrangement for partially securing the door inner panel to the door outer panel.

A wall type cabinet is generally shown at 10 in Fig. l and basically it is comprised of a cabinet body 11 and is illustrated, the door construction of my invention is equally as well suited to base type kitchen cabinets and most cabinets serving any of a variety of special purposes. Door members 12 and 13 are hinged at the extreme cabinet body edges in a manner more fully described with reference to Fig. 3.

Cabinet body assemblies may be fabricated according to numerous construction arrangements but as shown in Fig. 3' cabinet body 11 has a top panel member 14, with downturned flanges such as flanges 15 and 16, and a combined side and back panel member 17 having mullion portions formed as is flange portion 13. At assembly, panel- 14 is located interior of composite panel 17 and the panels are then spot-welded along all downturned flanges such as flanges l and 16 in areas of juncture. A somewhat similar construction arrangement is to be found in the cabinet bottom with a floor panel member being substituted for top panel member 114. Shelves, if desired, may be located as shown in Fig. l and spot welded in position.

To support and binge the door it is common practice to provide bracket members such as cabinet hinge bracket 19 at appropriate corners of the cabinet body. Hinge bracket 19 is generally L-shaped, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and may be secured to cabinet body 11 by various methods. As here shown it is projection welded to the cabinet body and bosses 29, shown in Fig. 4, are stamped into bracket 19 for this purpose. Also as shown, bracket 19 is let-down into a notch 21 provided in flange 18; this is done to prevent bracket 19 from extending above the top surface of panel member 14.

Door 12 is comprised of an outer panel 22 and an inner panel 23. An offset portion 24a is provided in flange edge 24 of outer door panel 22 to cooperate with bracket 19 so that when. assembled the upper surface of bracket 19 is co-planar with the principal surface of flange 24. Hole 25 is provided in the offset portion 24:). of flange 24 and serves to receive hinge-pin assembly 26 at the time of final assembly of the door.

Inner panel 23 is sized to cooperate or telescope within outer panel 22. As noted in Fig. 2, outer panel 22 is provided with a return flange 27 located along one vertical edge of the door. Inner panel 23 is provided with an offset portion 28 in its principal surface and offset portion 28 cooperates with or is complementary to return flange 27 when the door panels are assembled.

Inner panel 23 is further provided with an inturned flange 29 which is so formed as to serve as receiving means for the body portion of binge pin assembly 26. Such is constructed by providing a notched tab 30, formed from a portion of flange 29 and an unnotched flange portion 2%. The surface contours of flange 29 and notched tab 3% are formed to partially correspond to the surface contour of the body portion of hinge pin assembly 26. Additionally, the offset portion 31a of inner door panel flange 31 is partially cut away so that no portion of inner panel 23 will interfere with the insertion of hinge pin assemblies 26 when the door panels are being assembled. The notched tab portion 30 and unnotched flange portion 29a of flange 29 are resilient relative to the complete door assembly and resilient relative to each other, this permits somewhat high variations in production tolerances for component parts.

The cross-sectional spacing of unnotched flange portion 29a and notched tab 30 relative to each other is preferably such that when hinge pin assembly 26 is located in proper relationship thereto, each of the aforesaid flange portions comes into direct contact with a portion of the surface of the hinge pin assembly body. This is shown in Fig. 2. Also, unnotched flange portion 29a is most often a continuation of flange 29.

The curvature of inner door panel flange 29 provides lead-in and facilitates the entry of inner door panel 23 into cooperating or telescoping relationship with outer door panel 22. Also, I wish to point out that preferably a similar but inverted construction be incorporated.

in the lower left-hand corner of door member 12. In the lower corner portion, which is shown in Fig. 2, notched tab 32 is similar to tab 30 and flange portion 29 is a continuation of flange portion 29 shown in greater detail in Fig. 3.

When assembling inner and outer door panels 22 and 23 I advocate the use of hinge-pin assemblies such as 26. Referring to Fig. 5, the hinge-pin assembly 26 includes a plunger 33, a body portion or shell 34, and a helical coil spring 35. Plunger 33 includes an upper end portion 36 having a reduced diameter substantially the same as the opening or hole 37 in cabinet hinge bracket 19. Plunger 33 also includes an intermediate portion 38 and a lower end portion 39 of reduced diameter. Shell 34 has an interior diameter substantially the same as the diameter of intermediate portion 38 of plunger 33 except at its lower end portion 40 where it is re stricted and has an interior diameter corresponding substantially to the diameter of reduced lower end portion 39 of plunger 33. Spring 35 acts between intermediate portion 38 of plunger 33 and restricted lower end portion 40 of shell 34. That end of plunger 33 extending or projecting outside the reduced lower end portion 40 of shell 34 is peened or staked as at 41 to limit the movement of plunger 33 under the action of spring 35. Additionally, shell 34 includes a shoulder or flange 42 at the upper end thereof, which flange is adapted to engage the surface area of offset 24a immediately surrounding hole 25 in flange 24 when properly inserted. The outer diameter of shell 34 corresponds substantially to the diameter of hole 25 in outer door panel flange 24 and shell flange 42 functions as a bearing washer intermediate hinge bracket 19 and door member 12 In preparing the door components for final assembly I prefer that all surfaces of door panel members 22 and 23 be completely finished. As previously explained, such painting, enameling, or the like provides protection against rusting or corrosion and in a properly prepared door of my construction the rust or corrosion potential of the doors inner surfaces can, in practical terms, be completely eliminated. Such is not true of doors having a welded construction where finishing must occur subsequent to welding.

Also, I prefer that a sound-deadening or sound-insulating medium be provided between the inner and outer door panels to eliminate those rattling characteristics associated with sheet metal doors. This medium may take the form of corrugated paper-board cemented in place or positioned under compression; it may alternately take the form of felt or other fibrous material similarly placed; the sound-deadening medium can take the form of a mastic or like material applied to each door panel. In the drawings I have indicated the sound-deadening medium generally as at 43 in Fig. 2.

To assemble the door I find it advisable that a finished outer door panel 22 be placed face down on a flat surface, that the sound-deadening medium 43 be properly located in door panel 22, that a finished inner door panel 23 be properly oriented relative to panel 22 with offset 28 engaged under return flange 27 and then telescoped into engagement with outer panel 22 as shown in Fig. 2, and that hinge-pin assemblies 26 be inserted into holes '25 provided in either end of outer door panel 22. With the door construction described, each hinge-pin assembly inserted will partially secure each door panel member to the other cooperating door panel member. The resulting door structure will be sound, extremely rigid, and ready for assembly to the cabinet body.

To assemble the door to the cabinet body it is only necessary to depress the plunger 33 of each hinge-pin assembly and then place the door intermediate the appropriate brackets 19 located on the cabinet body. When portions of each hinge-pin assembly plunger engage the under or inner surface of the associated hinge bracket. 19 it is only required that the door be slid or jockeycd until the reduced upper end portion 36 of each hinge-pin assembly plunger 33 becomes properly aligned with its cooperating hole 37 in bracket member 19. At that time each plunger will snap into position and the door becomes completely installed, save perhaps for handle hardware and the like.

From this description it can be seen that my door construction has many worthwhile advantages. The con struction is particularly rigid because of the arrangement of the hinge-pin receiving means in each of door panels 22 and 23 and the hinge-pin assembly 26 when these components are properly assembled. With this point in mind it should be emphasized that to produce a rigid construction, particularly with respect to a relatively short hinge-pin assembly, the unnotched portion 29a of flange 29 should be located more adjacent to hole 25 of door panel 22 than is the notched tab portion 3t). Fig. 4 shows this requirement clearly. However, if the hinge-pin assembly is comparatively long relative to notched and unnotched portions of flange 29 this distinction is not important.

Also, it can be justifiably concluded that the door construction of my invention eliminates the necessity of several fasteners, fastener receiving holes or means, and supplemental support brackets. Likewise, the advantage of my cabinet door construction relating to ease of assembly, ease of installation, and ease of removal for replacement is well established.

One last point concerns the disclosure of Fig. 6. Should it be deemed advisable to additionally secure inner door panel 23 to outer door panel 22 in a removable manner, such may be accomplished by providing an opening 44 in flange 29 of inner door panel 23 and an indented dimple 45 in flange 46 of outer door panel 22, in registering relationship. An arrangement of this nature may be advisable in doors of comparatively great overall height. However, such a construction is not necessarily required.

I claim:

1. In a cabinet door construction, the combination comprising a pair of spaced panels, one of said panels having a top flange along an edge thereof, said flange having an opening therein, each of said panels having a side flange along adjacent edges of the panels, a hinge pin assembly mounted in the opening in said top flange, said hinge pin assembly comprising a body member and a resiliently mounted pin extending outwardly relative to said body member and axially of the opening in said flange, means for limiting the movement of said body member axially inwardly of said hollow door, and a member struck out from the side flange which is nearest the interior of the hollow door, said member surrounding a part of the body member of the hinge pin assembly.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein said member is spaced from the end of the side flange from which it is struck.

3. In a cabinet door construction, the combination comprising a pair of spaced panels forming a hollow door, each of said panels having a flange extending along each of its top and bottom end edge and its side edges, the flanges of the first panel being telescopically received within the flanges of the second panel, one said end flange of said second panel having an opening therein adjacent .one end of said end flange, said end flange of said first panel having a portion thereof underlying said opening in said flange of said second panel cut away, a hinge assembly mounted in the opening in said end flange of said second panel, said hinge assembly comprising a body member and a resiliently mounted pin extending outwardly from said body member and axially of said opening in said flange, means for preventing the body member from moving axially inwardly relative to said hollow door, and a member struck from the side flange of said first panel and surrounding part of said body member of the hinge pin assembly, said member and the portion of said side flange between said member and the end of said side flange being resilient relative to the remainder of the panel, said latter portion contacting the body member of the hinge pin assembly.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3 wherein said side flange of said second panel which is furthest from the opening in said end flange of said second panel is provided with a lip overlying a portion of the first panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

